Apparatus for spraying hides and skins



1951 E. GIRAUDO 2,565,655

APPARATUS FOR SPRAYING HIDES AND SKINS Filed Feb. 4, 1949 8 Sheets-Sheet1 Aug. 1951 E. GIRAUDO 2,565,655

APPARATUS FOR SPRAYING HIDES AND SKINS Aug. 28, 1951 Filed Feb. 4, 19495 Sheets-Sheet 5 AFTOR VEY Aug. 28, 1951 E. GIRAUDO APPARATUS FORSPRAYING HIDES AND SKINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 4, 1949 ETTOKE65/344600 ATTOR/VEV Aug. 28, 1951 E. GIRAUDO APPARATUS FOR SPRAYINGHIDE-S AND SKINS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 4 1949 //V VENTO)? ETTOREQ/RAVLDO 1951 E. GIRAUDO 2,565,655

APPARATUS FOR SPRAYING HIDES AND SKINS Filed Feb. 4, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet6 l/V VE/VTOR ETTORE Gf/RAZLDO By WM ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 28, 1951APPARATUS FOR SPRAYING HIDES AND SKINS Ettore Giraudo, Turin, ItalyApplication February 4, 1949, Serial No. 74,597 In Italy April 2, 194811 Claims.

This invention relates to the dyeing of hides and skins and concerns aprocess by which this operation may be effected in a continuousautomatic manner limiting manual operation merely to attachment of thehides and skins to the machine at the start of the operation and todetachment of the hides and skins at the end of same, since all dyeingand drying steps are effected in a fully automatic manner.

Normally, in tanneries hides and skins are placed on wire mesh orperforated sheet metal frames, and the worker supplies a coating ofcoloured pigment by means of a spraying gun on the hide or skin which,after dyeing is removed and brought to a drying apparatus. In order toensure an even dyeing a plurality of coatings are necessary which aresuccessively applied by the workers on the above-mentioned frames.Between application of each coating the hide or skin should be placedduring a few minutes in the drying apparatus in order to make itsuitable for efficiently receiving the successive coating.

In order to avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks a continuous dyeingmethod has already been suggested, in which hides and skins are fixed toan endless vertical wire mesh web which runs over two end drums, and issupported by a chain which moves by means of suitable sprockets withinguides placed on top.

A number of dyeing stages are arranged along the web which, startingfrom the point of attachment, are served by workers having gun sprayers,these stages alternating with drying tunnels. The end drying tunnel isarranged past the last dyeing stage, and on issue thereof the dyed hidesor skins are detached.

This plant is a considerable improvement over the one previouslyreferred to, but still suflers from the drawback that dyeing of hidesand skins is entrusted to the skill of the worker handling the gunsprayer, so that the distribution of the dye on the hide or skin isoften unsatisfactory.

The process further entails a considerable waste in dye stuff as in theoperation of the gun sprayer the worker when treating the outer edges ofthe skins often sprays the dye on the web instead of on the hide orskin.

By the process according to this invention the latter drawback may beobviated, and a perfectly even dyeing is ensured, waste of dye asoccurred in previous processes is avoided, and a far better end productis obtained.

Evenness or distribution of the dye makes it possible to employextremely thin layers of coloured pigments thus obtaining an improvedfinal product.

According to this invention, the sprayers instead of being held in thehand, are carried by carriages which perform a reciprocating movement onguides along vertical axes perpendicular to the direction of movement ofthe wire mesh web supporting the hides and skins which, as in one of theconstructions referred to above, is in the form of a vertically arrangedendless belt.

The valve for supplying compressed air to the sprayers is not manuallyoperated but is driven by an electric magnet carried by each sprayer andenergized in such manner as to open the valve solely when the sprayer onits reciprocating motion along the vertical axis faces the hide or skin,while when the sprayer faces the web the valve is automatically closedstopping the operation of the sprayer and avoiding waste of dye.

The elctro-magnets of each sprayer are operated by means of an electriccell device carried by a support, performing like the sprayers areciprocating motion transversal of the direc tion of movement of theweb carrying the skin.

The said device comprises a projector emitting a luminous bundle oflight on the web, a mirror situated behind the web and reflecting thesaid bundle of light on a photo-electric cell situated on the carriageon the side of the projector, in such manner that when the bundle oflight strikes the web on a region which is not covered by the hide orskin, it may pass through and be reflected by the mirror on thephoto-electric cell, while when it strikes the skin it is interceptedand is not reflected on the photo-electric cell.

The latter is provided with a relay which is operated in the closedposition in such a manner that when the return beam fails, the relaycloses an electric circuit actuating a recording device. The recordingdevice drives the electromagnet operating the sprayers, the delaybetween the registration on the recording device and the actuation ofeach sprayer being equal to the time necessary for the movement of thescanned part of the hide or skin from the position facing the scanningunit to the position facing the sprayer. In this manner, the supply ofthe dye is automatically stopped within those places where the scanningbeam did not hit the hide or skin.

In order to operate the individual sprayers only when a hide or skinmoves in front of them. this invention provides a repeating device by 3which the sprayers are conveniently time operated.

This device consists preferably of a paper strip unrolling from a supplyspool to a receiving spool. The paper strip is acted upon its path, fromthe supply to the receiving spool, by a punching device actuated bymeans of a relay by the scanninglight cell, which, when no beam returnsto the light cell, punches the paper strip in accordance with thescanned length of hide or skin.

Electric contacts are arranged on the paper strip past the punchingdevice suitably placed and rest on the said strip. The said contactsco-operate with corresponding contacts oppositely situated on theopposite side of the paper stri The spacing between the contact pairswhich correspond in number with the sprayers, is proportioned in asuitable scale to the spacing between the sprayers, and the rate ofspeed of the paper is similarly proportioned to the rate of speed of theweb.

Supposing the spacing of the contacts is of the sprayer spacing, therate of speed of the paper strips is Ta of the rate of speed of the web.

It will be obvious that when the punched paper strip travels between thetwo electric contacts of each contactor, it acts as insulator on itsnonpunched sections, While on the punched sections the resilient pointof one of the contacts may cooperate with a corresponding contact on theother side, thereby closing the feed circuit for the electric-magnet ofthe associated sprayer which sprays dye on the hide or skin in theregions scanned by the light cell. The hide or skin receives as manylayers of dye as there are sprayers, and the dye spray is directedexclusively on the hide or skin, avoiding any jet on the web outside ofthe contour of the hide or skin, as operation of the sprayers isautomatically intercepted in said regions.

Drying tunnels are conveniently inserted between the various sprayers,in order to promptly dry the coating applied, and a long tunnel is arraned past the last sprayer for final drying of the hide or skin.

The invention shall now be described with reference to the encloseddiagrammatical drawin s which show a construction by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a part front elevation of the dyeing apparatus according tothis invention.

Fig. 2 shows a detail of Fig. l on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III1II of Fig- 1.

Fig. 4 is a part sectional detail view of the carria e carrying thelight cell and projector.

Fig. 5 is a section taken along line V-V of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a detail of Fig. l on an enlarged scale and shows themechanism driving the carriages and repeating device.

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the drive for the repeating mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a diagram of the operation of the repeating device.

Fig. 9 is a detail plan view of the perforated paper strip constitutingthe repeating member.

Fig. 10 is an axial vertical section of the punching device.

Fig. 11 is a partial section on line XI-XI of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a detail on an enlarged scale of the 4 portion of thepunching device carrying the electric contacts.

Fig. 13 is a general electric diagram of the I plant.

Fig. 14 shows the general electric diagram of the apparatus.

I denotes an endless vertical wire mesh web travelling over end rollers2, one of which only is shown on the drawing.

The web is supported from above by a chain (not shown) which moves bymeans of suitable sprockets within top guides. The shaft 3 of the roller2 is driven by a worm gear 4, of which the worm screw is carried on ahorizontal shaft 5 provided with a coupling G for connection with theoutput shaft of an electric motor (not shown).

The shaft 5 carries at its opposite end a bevel pinion 6 meshing with abevel wheel I of which the shaft is supported by a longitudinal frame 3.

The wheel I has articulated thereto at I0, near its periphery, a link Il, which is articulated at its other end at 12 to a slide l3 movable ina C-shaped guide l4 provided with a lower flange having a hole l5 forattachment to the frame 9. The slide I3 is held in front by plates l6secured by means of screws I! (Fig. 5).

The slide I2 has articulated thereto at 54 a link 55 having articulatedat its other end at 56 a rod 57 mounted for oscillation about ahorizontal pivot 18 supported by an upright I9 of the frame 9. The rod51 has fixedly attached thereto a beam 20 arranged at about 90 to therod.

The ends of said beam have articulated thereto two links 2 I, the otherends of which are pivoted, to carriages 22 movable on vertical rods 23secured to the frame 9.

In order to reduce friction between the carriages 22 and cylindricalrods 23, the carriages are provided at their point of contact with therods with bushes 24, as shown in Fig. 4.

The first carriage (on the right in Fig. 4) carries on a cross member22a a projector 26 and light cell 25. A mirror 21 is arranged on thesupporting frame of the apparatus over the full height of the web ibehind the latter in front of the carriage 22, and the axes of theprojector and light cell are inclined in such manner that the light raysemitted by the projector, upon reflection by the mirror 21, strike thelight cell 25.

It will be obvious that rotation of the motor shaft 5 causes through theworm screw 1, acting as a crank, and link II, the slide l2, to perform areciprocating motion, the stroke D of which corresponds to the diameterof the wheel I.

The various members are proportioned in size in such manner that thestroke D corresponds to a full displacement of the two carriages 22 fromthe position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to the opposed position shownin dotted lines, in which the right-hand carriage is in its upperposition and the left-hand carriage is in its lower posiion.

The transmission ratios are calculated in such manner that the rate ofspeed of the hide or skin and the rate of displacement of the carriageresult in a full scanning of the hide or skin P by the light cell. Thefirst sprayer S is mounted on the left-hand carriage 22 of the abovedescribed apparatus. The following sprayers S are carried by carriages22, similar to the one described above, and driven by slides l3 throughlinks l5, rods l'l', beams 20' and links 2| identical with thosedescribed above.

The dissance between the carriage 22 carrying the first sprayer andcarriage 22' carrying the second sprayer denoted by L in the drawing isequal to the distance L between the two first carriages 22, thefollowing carriages being equally spaced.

The slide i8 operating the device carrying the second and third sprayersis driven by the slide l8 through the rod 58 and operates in turn, bymeans of a rod 58, the third slide (not shown on the drawing) whichdrives in turn the next slide, and so on.

The number of slides and their associated devices depends upon thenumber of sprayers. In the following description it has been assumedthat the slides are in the number of five, so that the sprayers are ninein all.

The shaft carries directly ahead the bevel pinion 8 driving the wheel I,a worm gear 28 driving a vertical shaft 29 operating in turn through twobevel wheels 90, 9 l, a horizontal shaft 82 carrying a roller 83 and asprocket wheel 84, the latter driving by means of an endless chain 85the sprocket wheels 35 and 81 of which the shafts carry two rollers 38,89.

A pressure roller 38, 39', 38' is loosely mounted on its shaft in frontof each driving roller 88, 89,

. 88, and the paper strip 48 travels between the roller pairs unrollingfrom a supply spool 4|, and passing on a guide roller 42 through apunching device 48. On issuing from the last pair of rollers, the paperstrip passes over stretching rollers 44. 45 and is wound on a receivingspool 48. The latter is driven by a shaft 92 through a flexible coupling41, for instance. an endless coiled wire. The punching device "comprisesa punch 49 movable perpendicularly to the paper strip 48 and driven byan electric magnet which is fed through a pair of wires 48a, 48b by thelight cell 25 through a relay, which operates in such manner that whenthe light cell is not struck by the bundle of light emitted by theprojector 25 and reflected by the mirror 21, the relay of the punchingdevice 48 is energized and the punch 49 is lowered on the paper which itperforates at 500, the length of the holes being proportioned to theheight of the hide or skin scanned by the light cell on -.s verticalmovement imparted by the carriage 22 on which it is mounted.

Electric contacts 59 are arranged on the paper strip 48 between thepunching device 43 and pairs of rollers 39, 33' and resiliently bear onthe paper which is supplied from below by contacts 52 connected togetherby a common feed lead 58. The contacts 50 are connected by leads 5| tothe electromagnets operating the valves of each sprayer. The spacingbetween the first pair of contacts 58, 52 and the axis of the punch 49,denoted by "l" in the drawing is in such a ratio to the distance L(Fig. 1) between the individual carriages 22, 22' carrying the lightcell and sprayers as exactly corresponds with the ratio between the rateof feed of the paper and rate of feed of the web. For instance,supposing the paper is fed at a rate which is 1 of the rate of feed ofthe web, lwill be 1 of L. The contacts 50 and 52 are electricallyinsulated from each other by the paper strip in the regions in which itis not punched. As a punched hole passes between the first pair ofcontacts 58 and 52, the insulating action of the paper ceases and thecontacts are closed. This energizes the electromagnet operating theassociated sprayer that operates on the regions of the hide light cell,supply of dye being cut on on the skin or skin scanned by the .8 edge.The same takes place as the paper reaches the second pair of contacts,and so on, at all nine pairs of existing contacts, so that ninesuccessive coatings will be applied to the hide or skin and the colourwill be uniformly distributed thereon without any waste of material dueto spraying on the web.

Referring to Figs. 10, 11, 12 which show a construction of the punchingdevice denoted as a whole by 48 in Fig. 8, 54 denotes a bed plate towhich a profile rod 84 is secured and connected by screws 55 to thecasing 55 enclosing the winding 51 of an electro-magnet of which themovable core 58 is connected with a lower rod 59. The latter moves in abushing 58 which guides the rod and extends within a tube 5| secured byscrews 52 to the casing 55. -A coil spring 63 is wound about the lowerportion 59a, reduced in diameter, of the rod 59, the said springcooperating at one end with the upper portion of the rod 59, and at itsother end with a case 84 screwed in the tube 5|. A rod 65 is secured tothe upper end of the core 58 and is guided in a bushing secured by meansof screws 61 to a profile rod 88. A lever 10 is pivoted at 59 to the rod55 and oscillates about a pivot H carried by the plate 58. The

lever 18 is articulated at 12 to a pivot I4 m'ovable in a casing carriedby the plate 58, and carries at its lower end the punch 49 adapted toperforate the paper strip 40 travelling over the profile rod 54.

A plate 15 is secured to the rod 54 at the punch and is formed with ahole 16 engaging the punch on its downward stroke effected under theaction of the core 58 through the connecting rod 10.

ll denotes the terminals for connection of the apparatus with the lightcell 25 through the leads 48a, 48b (Fig. 8). 80, 8| denote the platinumcontacts of the switch carried by the apparatus, and 18 is the drivingbeam oscillating about a pivot 19.

Fig. 13 shows a detail of the electromagnet device operatingthe sprayersS, details of the sprayers not being shown on the drawing as they do notdiifer from those of manually operated sprayers. 82 is a conduitsupplying the colour or dye. 83 is the supply conduit for compressedair. 84 is the sprayer nozzle, 85 is the operating trigger pivoted at8B. The trigger has an incline 81 cooperating with a correspondingincline 88 secured to the rod 89 fixedly connected with the core 98 ofan electromagnet of which the winding is denoted by 9|.

'92 is the spring which tends to maintain the apparatus in the positionillustrated corresponding to the inoperative position of the sprayer.The rod 89 is guided on top in a guide 93. Closure of the circuit of thewinding 9|, due to closure of the circuit between the correspondingcontacts 58 and 52 of the sprayer produced by the perforations 808 inthe strip 40 travelling between the contacts, lowers the core 90.Cooperation of the inclines 81, 88 displaces the trigger 85 to bring thesprayer to its operative position.

Referring to the general electric diagram of the plant shown in Fig. 14,94 denotes the leads of a three-phase alternating current line, forinstance, at 500 volts. The leads abut to a remote control switch 95which cuts in and off the electric motor 95 driving the web I, and thecarriages carrying the light cell, projector and sprayers.

91a, 91b and 98 denote the three terminals of the remote control switch.98a is a thermostatic over-load protection. Three leads 99, I88

I and IOI extend from the three above-mentioned terminals to theoperating switch i? provided with the push-button I03 and stoppush-button I04.

I05 denotes the leads extending from the source of low voltagealternating current, for instance at 125 volts, which feed through aswitch I06 the repeating device operating the sprayers through theelectromagnets 9|. I01 denotes the transformer for supplying current ata lower voltage, for instance at 12 volts, to the projector 25 whichilluminates the light cell 26 through the mirror 21. I08 denotes fusesarranged in the supply circuit of the electromagnets 8|. I09 denotesauxiliary contacts placed beside the main contacts 50, 52 and acting assafety contacts in cooperation with oppositely arranged contacts 52 overwhich the paper strip 40 is conveyed.

RI, R2, R3, R4, R5 denote five relays and CI, CI C2, C3, C4, C5 denotethe corresponding contacts. When energized, the relays RI, R4 and R5close the corresponding contacts, while the relays R2 and R3 onenergizing open their associated contacts.

The said relays are arranged in such manner as to act as safety in thecase of tear of paper, failure of current at the switchboard or motor.The relay BI is connected with an operating push-button III! and acts,by means of a cam I II carried by its movable core, in contacts C1, C1connected in the supply circuit of the switchboard. Consequently,starting of the apparatus necessitates a pressure both on thepush-button I03 and push-button H0.

Tear of the paper. closes the circuit between the safety contact I 09and opposite contact 52, energizing the relay R2 which opens theenergizing circuit for the relay RI. The disenergized relay RI opens thesupply circuit through the contacts C1, C1 cutting off the wholeswitchboard.

Failure of current at the switch-board disenergizes the relay R4 thatopens the circuit at the lead I00 of the remote control switch 95 whichis released and stops the motor 95.

Failure of current at the motor 96 releases the relay of the remotecontrol switch 95 opening the contact between the terminals II2, I I3 ofthe leads Ill, II5 connecting the said switch with the switchboard,thereby cutting ofi current from the latter. 6, II! denote two switchesfor cutting oif motor and switchboard respectively.

It will be understood that constructional details may vary from theconstruction described above and illustrated in the drawing by way ofexample, without departing from the scope of this invention.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for applying a plurality of superposed dye coatingsto skins and hides, a vertical light permeable belt conveyor to carrysaid articles in a successive relationship, a vertical frame adjacentlylocated to said belt conveyor, means to pass said belt conveyoralongside said frame, vertical rods supported by said frame in auniformly spaced succession, carriages vertically slidably supported onsaid vertical rods, means to vertically reciprocate said carriages onsaid rods, a scanning unit located on the carriage first met by saidconveyor belt to scan the outline of said articles, said unit beingcomposed of a light projector and a photo-cell and positioned on the oneside of said belt conveyor, a mirror facing the scanning unit located onthe opposite side of the belt conveyor, the optical axes of the lightprojector and of the photo-cell being inclined whereby the light raysprojected onto the mirror through said light permeable belt conveyorwill be reflected onto the photo-cell, dye sprayers carried by the othercarriages with the exception of said first carriage, a record strip anda device to punch the same carried by said frame, means to synchronouslymove said record strip with said belt conveyor, a relay operated by saidphoto-cell during the by-passage of said articles to operate said punchand to thereby produce successive recesses in said record strip inconformity with the outline of said scanned articles, and separateelectromagnetic means carried by said frame and operative through thecontact creating recesses in the moved record strip to operate said dyesprpayers.

2. In an apparatus according to claim 1, a wire mesh forming the lightpermeable belt conveyor.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, and vertical rods located in thecenter between the carriages supporting rods, a beam swingably supportedon said center rods, said beam being pivotally connected at its endswith said carriages and means to swing said beam in opposite directions.

4, In an apparatus according to claim 1, successive magnetic contactsoppositely located above and below the record strip and electromagneticmeans actuated by said contacts upon their closure through the recessesin the record strip to operate the dye sprayers.

5. In an apparatus according to claim 4, the relation between thedistance of the punching device and the first pair of contacts as wellas the equal distances between the consecutive pairs of contacts and thedistance between the photo-cell and the first sprayer as well as theequal distances between the following sprayers being controlled at thesame ratio as the relation between the speed of the belt conveyor andthe speed of the paper strip.

6. In an apparatus according to claim 1, a record strip carried by saidframe structure, means to move said strip synchronously with said beltconveyor, a device operable by the photocell of said scanning unitduring the passage of said articles along said photo-cell to mark saidrecord strip in conformity with the contours of said articles andelectromagnetic means controlled by said record strip and positioned toreceive the reflected rays of said photo-cell to operate said dyesprayers.

7. In an apparatus according to claim 1, a punching device, a relayinfluenced by the photocell of said scanning unit during the by-passageof said articles to operate said punch and to produce successiverecesses in said record strip in conformity with the outline of thescanned articles, successive opposite pairs of contacts adapted to beclosed through the recesses of said record strip, electromagnetscontrolled by the closure of said pairs of contacts to operate said dyesprayers, the relation between the distance of the punching device andthe first pair of contacts as well as the equal distances of the otherpairs of contacts and the distance between the photo-cell and the firstsprayer as well as the equal distances of the other sprayers beingcontrolled at the same ratio as the speed of the belt conveyor and thespeed of the paper strip.

8. In an apparatus according to claim 1, a recording device including arecord strip, means to operate said record strip for a synchronousmovement with said belt conveyor and a speed 9 reducer gear interposedbetween said belt conveyor and said strip to correlate the speed of thepaper strip and the speed of said conveyor at a predetermined ratio.

9. In an apparatus according to claim 1, an electric power supply, firstpairs of successive magnetic contacts oppositely located above and belowthe record strip and electromagnetic means actuated by said contactsupon their closure through the recesses in the record strip to operatethe dye sprayers, pairs of auxiliary contacts adjacently located to saidfirst pairs of contacts and normally held in an open circuit position bythe record strip, a relay, said auxiliary contacts adapted to close uponbreakage of said record strip the circuit of said relay, whereby thepower supply is interrupted.

10. In an apparatus according to claim 1, an electric drive motor, oneelectric circuit connected with said motor to move said conveyor alongsaid frame to vertically reciprocate said carriages and to move saidrecord strip, a second circuit to operate the projector and photo-cellunits, the punching device and the dye sprayers and means toautomatically cut-ofi' the current to either of said circuits uponfailure of the current supply to the other circuit.

11. In an apparatus for applying a plurality of superposed dye coatingsto skins and hides, a light permeable belt conveyor to carry saidarticles in a successive relationship, a frame adjacently located tosaid belt conveyor, means to pass said belt conveyor alongside saidframe, rods supported by said frame in a uniformly spaced succession,carriages slidably supported 10 on said rods, means to reciprocate saidcarriages on said rods, a scanning unit located on the carriage firstmet by said conveyor belt to scan the outline of said articles, saidunit being composed of a light projector and a photo-cell and positionedon the one side of said belt conveyor, a mirror facing the scanning unitlocated on the opposite side of the belt conveyor, the optical axes ofthe light projector and of the photo-cell being inclined whereby thelight rays projected onto the mirror through said light permeable beltconveyor will be reflected onto the photo-cell, dye sprayers carried bythe other carriages with the exception of said first carriage, a recordstrip and a device to punch the same carried by said frame, means tosynchronously move said record strip with said belt conveyor, a relayoperated by said photo-cell during the by-passage of said articles tooperate said punch and to thereby produce successive recesses in saidrecord strip in conformity with the outline of said scanned articles,and separate electromagnetic means carried by said frame and operativethrough the contact creating recesses in the moved record strip tooperate said dye sprayers.

ETTORE GIRAUDO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the PollardOct. 29. 1934

